









Jl 







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A 
PRELIMINARY REPORT 

on the Excavations at the 

House of Jireh Bull 

on Tower Hill in Rhode Island 



Issued at the General Court of the Society of 

Colonial Wars in the State of Rhode Island and 

Providence Plantations, by its 

Governor, Henry Clinton Dexter, Esquire 

and the 

Council of the Society 

December 31, 1917 



Providence : 
Printed for the Society by E. A. Johnson & Company 



Gilt 

$18 






To the Council : 

Honored Gentlemen — 

The Committee on Publications of 
the Society of Colonial Wars, instead of reprinting an ancient 
document, presents, for this Annual Court of the Society, a 
preliminary account of the investigations made by Messrs. 
Burlingame, Isham and Hazard, as a committee appointed by 
your honorable body, at the site of the house of Jireh Bull on 
Tower Hill in the South County. A complete report will be 
forthcoming when all the data can have been collected and 
arranged. As this house was, with that of Richard Smith, 
one of the foci of the early life of that region, the publishing 
of the extremely important information which your committee 
has discovered is, just as truly as the bringing to light of an 
old document, the setting forth of a new and most valuable 
source for our Colonial history. 

Edwin Aylsworth Burlingame, 
Norman Morrison Isham, 
Charles Edward Cannon. 



Captain Waite Winthrop, writing from Smith's, July 9, 
T675, to his father, Governor John Winthrop of Connecticut, 
says that his troopers had gone "to quarter at Jer: Bulls 
where there is about 16 of the neibours it being a convenient 
larg stone house with a good ston wall yard before it which 
is a kind of small fortyfycation to it." It was further to 
develope this, the only written evidence as to what the house 
was, that the excavations, of which this is a partial account, 
were undertaken. 

Part way up the eastern slope of Tower Hill on that portion 
of the "Bull-Dyer farm," which is now owned by Mr. Samuel 
G. Peckham, there has been for many years a series of mounds, 
betrayed as stone heaps by the outcropping fragments, and 
marked, in part, as a rectangle by an old growth of buck- 
thorns. The spot thus indicated has always been the tradi- 
tional site of what is generally called Bull's Garrison or Block 



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/SLICH80RJHOOQ 



Figure l. 



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House, which was burned by the Indians December 15, 1675, 
and which, though probably not originally intended as a 
fortification, did serve as a refuge for seventeen of the neigh- 
bors, only two of whom escaped the savages. 

This location is exactly shown on the map which is given in 
figure 1. If one follows the Middle Bridge or Tower Hill 
road down into the valley of the Narrow River and turns to 
tho»right, or toward the south, he will see, just before the turn 
to the bridge, a triangular piece of meadow in the southwest 
corner of which is a bar-way. Beyond this an old road zig- 
zags up the hill. By following this road up to and beyond 
the stone wall, one will find a trail toward the left or south 
which will bring him to the site. 

Here, at the west end of the rectangle already described 
as marked by the buckthorns, the excavations were begun by 
Mr. Kissouth and his workmen under the direction of the 
committee. The ruins of a large stone house with two fire- 
places and remains of a paved court in front of it soon came to 
light. This is clearly shown as house A in the plan, figure 3, 
and in the photographs. There was no cellar. On the south 
there was apparently a large door, near which a lock and large 
key were found. A pine tree six pence in splendid preserva- 
tion—except that, alas, it has been clipped!— and a beautiful 
silver bodkin, probably of Dutch origin, but possibly made at 
Newport, were brought to light in the same house. The 
bodkin was marked M B, probably for Mary Bull. Fragments 
of glass, too, and pottery appeared, the latter not earlier than 

^oo and several early spoons of tinned brass and iron, like 

those dug up on the field of battle in the Great Swamp. 

The eastern house, A, is a large rectangular structure 30 
feet wide by 40 feet long. At the western end are the two 
large fireplaces, placed side by side, as they are in the Eleazer 
Arnold house, near the Butterfly Factory in Lincoln. The 
smaller of these openings is 4 feet 10 inches across, the larger 
9 feet 4 inches. They are 3 feet 6 inches deep. Only in the 
smaller does the hearth remain. Within the house a fragment 
of an iron fireback was found. 

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At the southwest, in the corner, were most probably the 
stairs. It was as a support for these that the flat stone shown 
in the plan was put across the corner. Beside this stone there 
was another which fell in the course of the digging. 

No signs of supports in the middle of the space appear, 
except at the east end, where an exceedingly rough foundation, 
not so heavy as the outer wall, projects about 10 feet from 
the eastern wall. 

In front of the eastern part of the house was a good sized 
area paved with rough flat stones. These were not laid level, 
but followed the slope of the ground, and were highest 
opposite the old opening in the south wall of the house. A 
pod auger, as it is called, a plane iron, a gauge, a chisel, and a 
stone or brick hammer were found here. 

The house and the space around it were full of stone. The 
gable ends had fallen eastward; the one into the area of the 
house, the other down the hill on the outside. 

About ten feet west of this first house, we discovered, by 
trenching westward, to find, if possible, the outer wall spoken 
of by Winthrop, another building, even larger than the first, 
which we have indicated by B on the plan. The south wall 
of part of this was in line with the south wall of the eastern 
house, but the north wall was about four feet north of the 
northern wall of the building A. 

This new building proved to be divided into two rectangles, 
an eastern and a western, by a heavy partition wall. The 
western rectangle, again, was nearly divided by a mass of 
masonry into two others. 

At the south of the eastern division of the house was a 
pavement or fragment of a pavement of a blue slate which is 
found near the Bonnet on Boston Neck. It is in the wrong 
location for a hearth and extends across the whole rectangle. 
At the southwest corner is a break in the wall and, in the re- 
entrant angle, an area with a rough stone foundation, which 
probably once carried more pavement, but which seems to be 
outside the house. 

The western rectangle is about 27 feet wide and 65 feet 

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long. Near the middle of it, close to the south wall, are some 
foundations which appear to be those of a heavy central chim- 
ney. On the eastern side of this chimney foundation is a 
clearly defined hearth, mostly of the blue slate from the Bonnet 
which we have already spoken of. In front of this a charred 
joist — mere charcoal — is still in place. On the western side 
is a single flat stone, at a higher level than the blue slate 
hearth. It is a fragment of another hearth all the rest of 
which has disappeared, for the remainder of the chimney is 
merely rough foundation, from the northwest corner of which 
a piece of wall runs northward for a few feet. 

From the east wall of this house B, as the plan will show, 
there runs a rough foundation which is very similar in position 
and quality to that at the eastern end of house A. 

On the western wall of B are two projections which look 
like the rough foundations of another fireplace. Just north 
of the northern projection begins a foundation which runs 
eastward in a line with the eastern foundation just spoken of 
above. It looks as if it formed a corner with the wall running 
north from the chimney. 

Against the south wall, again, is a foundation which seems 
to be that of an inner wall. 

In this area some very interesting and important fragments 
were found. A pair of cock's head hinges came to light, the 
first to be found in Rhode Island. On the north side of the 
outer north wall a small pocket of charcoal was found, and 
in digging into it, we unearthed a pair of H hinges. The win- 
dow sash or shutter had fallen or been thrown there and had 
burned. 

Some old glass appeared here, still in its original lead calmes 
or setting. It had, from its long sojourn in the earth, the 
beautiful iridescence which makes "favrile glass" sell at a 
high price. Here, too, was part of a gun barrel, a flint lock, 
possibly of the same gun, a dripping pan, a piece of an andiron, 
part of a trammel, bone knife handles and several other bits 
of shovels and hoes, with hinges and other ironware. Every- 
where were fragments of tobacco pipes of old shapes, most 

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Figure 2. 



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View of House "A" kko.m the East 




Paved Courtyard ikom Southeasi m iim m "A' 




_ 



PlAN.5 OF E.XCAVA.TE.P 5viLDIMG5 AT.JlRLH BvLL'f 

Figure 3. 



all of them white, but some of red clay. This was true of all 
the area dug over. 

In the extreme southwest corner was another pocket of 
charcoal, and here two joists, one across the building, the other 
at right angles, were marked by the charcoal remains of them, 
while a continuous layer represented the floor. A small mass 
of melted lead was found here, and also a quantity of nails. 

At the west of the building was a thin wall, or rather the 
foundations of such a wall, which may have been an enclosure 
for a yard. It ran 30 feet westward and turned toward the 
south. There was mortar in the south wall of this house, but 
a good deal of the work was laid dry. There was very little 
stone apart from that still in place in the walls, and the work 
was quite rough. The north wall was especially poor. 

South of the house B, about 20 feet away, was a small 
structure with heavy walls. This building, which we have 
called house C, is best described by the plan. It forms three 
sides of a rectangle and measures 16 feet from south to north. 
It thus has two side walls and a back wall, and against the 
back wall is a fireplace of which the hearth, with the founda- 
tion thereof, has long ago disappeared. South of the fireplace 
is a place for the stairs or the ladder which served as a stair- 
way. Across both fireplace and stairway is a rough founda- 
tion which probably carried an old sill or a line of joists. 

There is mortar in the outer walls of this building. The 
south wall shows, at the corner, where it meets the end wall, 
a bond-stone or "toother" as if it had once gone on further 
toward the west. 

No well has yet been found. It is almost certain that one 
existed in the enclosure. A spring still flows several hundred 
feet to the west, another at the northeast and still another at 
the southeast ; but all are too far away. 

For years the buildings must have served as quarry for the 
farm. It is known that they were still used 80 or 100 years 
ago for the building of stone walls. Only the smaller stones 
were left, and those which were so piled up as to be trouble- 
some to get out. The outer wall of which Winthrop speaks 

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was probably the first to go. Then the stones from the others 
were taken till the masonry was cut down to the level of the 
ground where it was soon covered by earth and grass. 

It may be in order now to make some suggestions as to the 
history of the various buildings the ruins of which we have 
unearthed. These will be subject to revision in the light that 
further investigation, not only upon the site, but in the town 
and State records, may throw upon the whole matter. 

That there have been three houses on the land is evident. 
Possibly there was once a fourth. 

The first house excavated, "A," is the latest. It was prob- 
ably built after Bull came back to the site when the war was 
over, or by his son after Jireh's death in 1684. It is of a 
lean-to type, closely resembling the Eleazer Arnold house in 
Lincoln. 

The house which Capt. Waite Winthrop- saw and described 
was what we have called the western building and have 
designated as "B" on the plan. This had on the east what 
may have been a courtyard or terrace, which still retains part 
of its paving. This house was probably one room deep, with 
a center chimney, on either side of which was a room and 
behind which was a stair. This placing of the stairs behind 
the chimney was an old English or perhaps a Welsh plan, as 
can be seen in any book of plans of English cottages. The 
western end of this house may well be an addition. It cuts 
across the foundation of the old wall, which seems like a part 
of the curtain, which we found still further west. It is 
possibly the house sold to Jireh Bull by William Bundy, Octo- 
ber 27, 1663. (R. I. Land Ev. II, 320.) 

The south building may be the oldest on the place. It looks 
to be a stone fireplace end for a small wooden house, such as 
the Carr house was on Conanicut Island before it was rebuilt. 
More excavation, however, has yet to be done at the east of 
this fragment. 

Winthrop says of Bull's at Pettaquamscutt "which is a con- 
venient larg stone house with a good Eton wall yard before 
it, which is a kind of small fortyfycation to it." 

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The large court enclosing- all the buildings could hardly be 
called small. That at the east of the house would be before it 
to one approaching from the lower slope of the hill, and this 
was probably the original approach, for Bull was of Newport 
and came and went in a boat. The last we know of him 
before the burning of the house is told by Roger Williams in 
nis letter to Governor Winthrop, dated July 27, 1675: "Sir, 
just now comes in Sam Dier in a catch from Newport, to fetch 
over Jireh Bull's wife and children and others of Pettaquam- 
scutt." 

That Bull returned to this farm after the war is certain, 
since he had Church of England services held there in 1683 
by Rev. Mr. Spear, as is proved by the deposition of Henry 
Gardiner in 1738. 

Jireh Bull came to Pettaquamscutt in 1663, perhaps earlier. 
On October 27 of that year he bought of William Bundy a 
twenty acre house lot stretching up the hill from the river, 
which formed the eastern bound. On the south it was bounded 
by a lot Bull already had, and on the north by "A Lott granted 
Rowse Helme." On the west it was bounded by land ''not 
Layd out which said Lott hath a hous upon it." (R. I. Land 
Evidence, Vol. II., p. 320.) 

In 1668, on June 4, for £28 the Pettaquamscutt purchasers 
deeded to Jireh Bull 500 acres, 20 of which formed a house lot 
bounded north "by a Lott formerly granted unto William 
Bundy & now in possession of sd Jireh Bull on the east by 
Pitticomscutt river on ye south by a Lott granted unto William 
Haviland & now in Possession of Jireh Bull." This is ap- 
parently the lot which Bull had south of Bundy, as mentioned 
in the latters deed, and which he was then holding, though 
he received no deed of it till five years later. 

On one of these three lots these houses probably stand. We 
may be able, in the later and more complete report which we 
shall make to the Society, to place these old lots accurately on 
the plat of the present farm, as well as to speak more con- 
fidently of the buildings themselves. 



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The thanks of the Society are due to those who have helped 
us financially, and to Mr. Peckham, who has so generously 
allowed us to dig whenever and wherever we desired. 

Edwin Aylsworth Burlingame, 
Norman Morrison Isham, 
Thomas George Hazard, Jr. 



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